Loose leaves

Rallying to the cause of our poet president

Poetry Ireland, the national poetry organisation, didn't take this week's attack on our poet president-elect, Michael D Higgins, lying down. After a broadside by the poet Carol Rumens on the Guardianwebsite, deconstructing Michael D's poem When Will My Time Come?, the Poetry Ireland director - and poet - Joseph Woods called her blistering critique churlish and ill-considered. "For someone who is a poet to be elected to the highest office in the land is an extraordinary thing," he said. "It underlines our ancient appreciation of poetry and literature. It's a defining moment, and for another poet, another member of the tribe of poetry, to come out with something so mean-minded is very short-sighted."

Rumens, who is professor of creative writing at the University of Wales in Bangor, rounded off her attack on Higgins by claiming that "it's almost sacrilegious to mention him alongside Irish poets who actually do make decent poems". To which Woods replied that, while Michael D's poetry might not be to everyone's liking, it had been validated by publication and his readings over the years. "Choice is personal and criticism is vital, essential, to poetry, but this is, quite simply, a lashing-out."

Reviewing the president-elect's New and Selected Poemson these pages in July, the poet Paul Perry found warmth and humour and an awareness of politics beyond Irish shores. "As the Easter Rising's centenary approaches, it begs the question: what would it be like to have a president who is also a poet?" Perry asked.

After inauguration day we'll begin to find out.

Tell Ennis why your book club is the best

Ennis Book Club Festival takes place next year from March 2nd to 4th, but now is the time for clubs to enter the annual Book Club of the Year Award, which will be presented at the festival. Be it a small informal group or one of the 150 or so associated with libraries, book clubs still abound in Ireland. To enter for the award, members should submit up to 300 words on what makes their book club so special. The closing date is January 13th, and the winning club gets a prize worth €1,000. Last year a club from Ballingarry, Co Limerick, won. See ennisbookclubfestival.com.

New York gathering for Thomas Kinsella

It's great when a celebration revolves around someone who is very much there to enjoy it. The 83-year-old poet Thomas Kinsella (below) will be not only present but also taking part at an event in his honour at the Irish Arts Centre in New York tomorrow. Kinsella lives between Dublin and Philadelphia, and many of his Irish and American friends will be at the event in the centre's Donaghy Theatre. It's part of this weekend's IAC PoetryFest, the third annual showcase of Irish poetry. Featured poets include Nick Laird, Michael Longley, Dennis O'Driscoll, Leanne O'Sullivan and David Wheatley. See irishartscenter.org.

Great flu story takes €3,000 prize

The Last Irish Plague: The Great Flu Epidemic in Ireland 1918-1919, by Caitriona Foley, published by Irish Academic Press, has won the €3,000 NUI Publication Prize in Irish History. The judging panel praised the multifaceted way the book looks at a relatively neglected episode: "There is no aspect, however unexpected, of the great flu that Dr Foley has not exhaustively researched in this fascinating and graphic historical reconstruction."